Brief:

• New Amsterdam Vodka is sponsoring the National Hockey League's "Stanley Cup Live" pregame show, which the league is simulcasting on Twitter for the first time after debuting the series last year on Facebook Live. The show will feature cocktails made using New Amsterdam Vodka, which last year became the official vodka of the league, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
• The NHL streamed its first episode of "Stanley Cup Live" last night before the opening game of the championship between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues, and may run six more shows through June 12, depending on whether the series reaches a final Game 7.
• "Stanley Cup Live" includes interviews with celebrities who attend games or appear at pregame concerts and features behind-the-scenes footage not available elsewhere.

Insight:

New Amsterdam Vodka's sponsorship of "Stanley Cup Live" comes as the show expands from Facebook Live to Twitter, where the @NHL account has 6.2 million followers who are seeking more in-depth and engaging content than they can find elsewhere. The Facebook Live stream of the tournament provides greater fan interactivity, including the ability to post comments or questions for the show's hosts, participate in polls and react to the content with "likes" and shares. While Twitter users can't post into the Facebook Live stream, they can see how other users are reacting to the show, Digiday reported.

Facebook and Twitter tend to reach a younger audience than traditional media outlets like TV and print. More than half (56%) of "Stanley Cup Live" viewers last year were between the ages of 18 and 34, an NHL spokesperson told Digiday. Twitter has expanded its sports programming in the past few years to stream live shows and games from professional sports leagues like the NFL, NBA and MLB. The social platform last month introduced a new slate of live and on-demand video programming to boost engagement with viewers and to appeal to a broader group of advertisers.

The NHL has been active on social media in an effort to cultivate a younger audience of sports fans who are tuned into more nascent content platforms. In February, Snapchat expanded a multiyear deal with the league to add content and several features for fans. The league started working with Disney Streaming Services (DSS) to create "NHL Highlights," a weekly show for the image-sharing app, and Curated Our Stories for some games and big events. The revised partnership again included bitmoji outfits for all 31 NHL teams, helping fans to personalize their experience of sports programming and share it with friends and followers on the image-messaging app.